Digging out from the mess

A couple days removed from the worst collapse in season history, the Rangers are trying to put it past them. We all know the extra point from a win would have helped, but a look at the standings shows -- and the team should take note -- that they're not in a bad position right now. The games-in-hand situation, which had several teams holding four games in hand on the Blueshirts, is almost entirely erased.

Side note: The NHL, by the way will have quite an embarassment on its hands, should Carolina make the playoffs as a division winning #3 seed, with fewer points than the eighth place team. The unfortunate thing is that Carolina could take a playoff spot away from a more legit team -- like, say, the Rangers. So the pressure is on, because there are basically seven playoff spots for eight playoff teams.

I think we would've been a bit more relaxed [today] if we got the win other day, but things happen and we just have to move on. It was a weird game from the get-go. They came out really strong. They were flying. They're a good team and I think they got every break they could get to get back into the game.

It's a good point to bring up; the Rangers were never actually as in control of that game as the score made it seem. The Hockey Rodent had an excellent entry on this; the action in that game was fast, and the Rangers caught all the early breaks.

Anyway, there are more important things than getting stuck on one game. Sam Weinman today checks in on Marty Straka, finding him uncertain about his future with the Rangers after his contract expires at the end of the season. It's sort of alarming that he doesn't seem to care much, either way:

. . . whatever's going to happen is going to happen after the season. If I'm done after this season, I'm done. If I come back, I come back. Either way, it's not going to kill me.

That's not very passionate, and we're trying not to read much into it, but stuff like that has been a problem for the team this season all along. They've lacked passion until their playoff fates were on the line.

Still, the playoff chase seems to have woken them up, and the Montreal loss is hopefully just another step in that process.

With that, there's not much left to do before the game in Buffalo tomorrow night; no scoreboard watching, no games of interest tonight as all four games are in the Western Conference. Twenty games left over the next 43 days...